Yes, it’s bowl season and I’ve got a hankering for one more Bowl Pick It and Stick It. This time bowling is more exciting for me outside of the BCS Bowls. Part of it is the fact that Kansas State got jipped out of an appearance at the Sugar Bowl, but the other part is that the line up BCS wise is just not interesting enough. The Sugar and the Orange are lame. The BCS National Championship Game is a rematch of boredom. The Fiesta and Rose look good but the overall product leaves me underwhelmed. That’s what I’m stoked for the Cotton Bowl. It’s non BCS and has a top 10 BCS match up with Kansas State taking on Arkansas. SEC vs Big 12. Hell yeah. Click on through for the Bowl Pick It and Stick It information.

Franklin American Mortgage Music CityMississippi State vs. Wake Forest

Nashville, Tenn.
LP Field

Dec. 30
6:40 p.m.

ESPN

InsightIowa vs. Oklahoma

Tempe, Ariz.
Sun Devil Stadium

Dec. 30
10 p.m.

ESPN

Meineke Car Care of TexasTexas A&M vs. Northwestern

Houston
Reliant Stadium

Dec. 31
Noon

ESPN

Hyundai SunGeorgia Tech vs. Utah

El Paso, Texas
Sun Bowl

Dec. 31
2 p.m.

CBS

AutoZone LibertyCincinnati vs. Vanderbilt

Memphis, Tenn.
Liberty Bowl

Dec. 31
3:30 p.m.

ABC

Kraft Fight HungerIllinois vs. UCLA

San Francisco
AT&T Park

Dec. 31
3:30 p.m.

ESPN

Chick-fil-AVirginia vs. Auburn

Atlanta
Georgia Dome

Dec. 31
7:30 p.m.

ESPN

TicketCity Houston vs. Penn State

Dallas
Cotton Bowl

Jan. 2
Noon

ESPNU

OutbackMichigan State vs. Georgia

Tampa, Fla.
Raymond James Stadium

Jan. 2
1 p.m.

ABC

Capital OneNebraska vs. South Carolina

Orlando, Fla.
Florida Citrus Bowl

Jan. 2
1 p.m.

ESPN

Taxslayer.com Gator BowlOhio State vs. Florida

Jacksonville, Fla.
EverBank Field

Jan. 2
1 p.m.

ESPN2

Rose Bowl Game presented by VizioWisconsin vs. Oregon

Pasadena, Calif.
Rose Bowl

Jan. 2
5 p.m.

ESPN

Tostitos FiestaStanford vs. Oklahoma State

Glendale, Ariz.
U. of Phoenix Stadium

Jan. 2
8:30 p.m.

ESPN

Allstate SugarMichigan vs. Virginia Tech

New Orleans
Louisiana Superdome

Jan. 3
8:30 p.m.

ESPN

Discover OrangeWest Virginia vs. Clemson

Miami
Sun Life Stadium

Jan. 4
8:30 p.m.

ESPN

AT&T CottonKansas State vs. Arkansas

Arlington, Texas
Cowboys Stadium

Jan. 6
8 p.m.

FOX

BBVA Compass BowlSMU vs. Pittsburgh

Birmingham, Ala.
Legion Field

Jan. 7
1 p.m.

ESPN

GoDaddy.comArkansas State vs. Northern Illinois

Mobile, Ala.
Ladd-Peebles Stadium

Jan. 8
9 p.m.

ESPN

Allstate BCS National Championship GameNo. 1 LSU vs. No. 2 Alabama

New Orleans
Louisiana Superdome

Jan. 9
8:30 p.m.

ESPN

Remember it’s a straight up pick but you can rank your confidence from 1 to 35. What other bowls are interesting you ask? Well, let’s start with the Big 12. Baylor and Washington look good for the Alamo Bowl, thanks to Robert Griffin III’s Hesiman win. Oklahoma playing Iowa for the first time in forever in the Insight Bowl sees Sooner head coach Bob Stoops head to his alma mater. What other games look good? How about the Outback Bowl with Georgia taking on Michigan State, another version of the BCS snub bowl. That’s about it for me. The others are decent but they just don’t jump out to me. Come back every Monday from here on out, though and we’ll go over the picks.

Yessir, it’s the last regular season week of college football! We have tons of conference championships, but we also have a fairly stacked Big 12 schedule. I’m sure that won’t happen as soon as they conference actually goes back to 12, but it’s nice to enjoy Farmageddon and Bedlam while the title games are going on. Bedlam is bigger, though, and I’m pulling for a major breakthrough for Oklahoma State so they can go the BCS National Championship Game. Much like I’m pulling for a miracle in the picks this week. I’m not asking for much, just for third place. So let’s find out what the picks are:

Ho man, am I stuffed. I never thought that I would be as stuffed as I was away from the family on the Thanksgiving as I am now. I know for certain that Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays out there now. Family is really getting together with friends and loved ones. Thanksgiving is a reason to get together with family and totally gorge yourself. I need to hit the gym pronto but first I will go over the Pick It and Stick It for this week. It’s some doozies and I mostly excited that great games come one after the other. It was like the second, third, and fourth helpings for me on Thanksgiving. Here’s the pick set:

Last week was rough. For lots of reasons. Tailgating as hard as I did last weekend has left some lingering effects. There’s also a sprinkle of great games from Thursday through Saturday. So I decided that this week, it will be some major home spectating. It’s a weird week for me anyway because this is the first Thanksgiving I’ve had away from home. Hopefully I won’t miss Mom’s stuffing too much. Let’s check out the games.

Okay, it’s getting to be that time of year. We had a quick preview of it last night. Well the whole week, actually. As the season goes on now, there will be some games on every day of the week. We’ll definitely be knee deep into over Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks. But already last night was an epic match up between Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech. I just hope they don’t pile on big time games on Tuesdays. Tuesdays are for me. Please college football, don’t take my Tuesdays away. It’s the only real day I can recharge and get juiced for another week fo college football. I hope they don’t pick Tuesday but I do hope they Pick It and Stick It. Here’s this week’s fodder:

I have to admit, I am getting excited about going to a BBQ this weekend. It’s fun running around the city and checking out new places, but the home cooked food and good times with peeps you know is always a welcomed change of pace. It will be a little awkward, however, as I’ll be sneaking my laptop on over to get ready for the big night games heading our way. I more than likely will not be watching two games at once, but I will be prepared just in case. For everyone else, prepare yourselves for the Pick It and Stick It.

Yeah the night games have high contrasts in terms of spreads. Kansas State and Oklahoma State have a huge 21 point difference while Alabama and LSU have only 4.5. Yeah I know Arkansas and South Carolina are close together too at 5.0. Out of those, I think LSU will make it a toss up. Sorry but Kansas State blew its wad already and it will be hard to watch via streaming laptop Saturday night. Meanwhile, earlier in the day, there is nothing exciting. Big 12 wise, Texas is up big on Texas Tech, but that will be closer. Iowa State should hang one on the pathetic Kansas Jayhawks. Oklahoma will run right over Texas A&M. That Baylor against Missouri will be a shoot out. Everything else is seriously blah.

It’s BBQ week for KC College GameDay! There’s plenty of sports bars out there, but every once in awhile you gotta go out and get some home cooking that only BBQ’s can provide. I think we are going to cook up the world famous BBQ cheesy corn not sure yet. But we are also going to cook up some college football. Now, we could run out to a bar earlier in the day, but games really suck. It’s all for the night time for me. So let us see what is so special about the night time as well as the other games for this weekend.

It’s the middle of the season and we are looking completely different from where we thought we were at. That’s okay. That’s how college football works. The way things changed week to week is what makes it the best sport in my mind and hopefully yours. So will the rest of the season prove even more unpredictable? We’ve yet to see any real upsets yet and we’re knee-deep into conference play. So chances are the 13 or so undefeated teams will start to dwindle down. I know this will happen because sports writers are talking about the possibility of 4 undefeated teams at the end of the season. Here’s this week’s pick set:

I have to say I’m a little giddy at the news that TCU will be accepting the offer to join the Big 12. Yeah, I know that they turned the gravy train around from the Big East but they are a better fit and I’m sure they were a little shakey about that conference after Pitt and Syracuse decided to leave. Yes, the Big East is in HUGE trouble, and now it’s the Big 12’s turn to take a deep breath and grab a couple of more teams. In fact, I’d say it’s high time for the Big 12 to Pick It and Stick It! Speaking of which, we have another exciting weekend of action on the field and on your pick sets. Let’s go over the list:

Usually you can get away with picking a safe bet for the college football Pick It and Stick It. But sometimes, you need to go out on a limb and pick an upset. More often than not, you will be wrong but taking chances is what it’s all about for picks and college football. Look at Texas A&M. They made it official over the weekend and will take a chance in the SEC. Whether or not it will pay off will be another story, but the Aggies are taking the chance of not winning in the SEC for the stability and money the conference provides. So for them, it will pay off either in money or football field greatness. Let’s look at the Picks:

So there isn’t much change yet. Again we have the 3 dropped point weeks in play here. I guess I didn’t think of it before, but usually the beginning of the football season sees more teams playing and more top 25 teams playing scrubs. Now that it’s getting into conference play, there will be more top 25 teams playing each other. So while there will be dropped points in the coming weeks, the first three weeks seem to be more important than not now. We’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out later in the year.

Shame on Pay for Play for picking Miami against Kansas State. Shame on everyone else except Bryce Brown for Heisman for picking Notre Dame to beat the spread against Pittsburgh. What was that about safe bets? Bryce Brown for Heisman won out the week for his mix of safe and unsafe bets, like the UTEP pick. I came in second along with TCU Travel for the same type of pick mixes. For me it was that Kansas State pick as well as going with Missouri for that ridiculous 21.5 spread against Oklahoma. TCU Travel Agent made his bones by going with Marshall and Western Michigan. It will be interesting toward the end with the true winners mixing it up like we did for this week.

It’s another week of college football and I’m starting to get comfortable down here. I had a quick detour to the Pecan Street Festival down on 6th street but after that it was all football nearby at the Draft Pick off Riverside Drive. The week of football was a welcomed one after all of the drama that was going on for the Big 12. There were tons of surprises but also tons of blowouts. Let’s sit right back and take a look.

Walking into the Draft Pick, I kinda felt like I was in an office building and not a sports bar. The architecture leading into the joint was somewhat modern and unassuming. The inside look totally made up for the outside look. Granted, there were no patios but the inside was all football watching business. Flat screens were all over the place, with one ginormous projection screen framing the square blocked bar. This is a place I can hunker down and watch some games.

Speaking of games, I couldn’t find any. Usually, a sports bar of ultimate greatness needs to have at least some Golden Tee or something, but the Draft Pick had nothing. This may be a philosophical decision. Their website proclaims that this bar was a project for serious football watchers only. That means there is not time for games. I can understand that, but please give me something to pass the time either at half or after the game.

Now that doesn’t mean the service was shabby. In fact, it’s been about the best I’ve ever had. The first question asked when I walked in was “What game are you watching today?” I have never heard that anywhere else in my 4 years of KCCGD. Color me impressed. Now, the ladies themselves were pretty svelte, even though there were some questionable candidates. Overall, however, it was pleasing to watch with the games.

I had the fortune of pounding a couple of drinks before the ole barspotting event so my taste buds were fully opened. The Draft Pick’s selection paired their famous All Star pizza with a little local fare from Independence Brewery called Austin Amber Ale. First off, the pizza tasted almost exactly like the kind I’ve had back in KC from Godfather’s Pizza, except the toppings were way thicker. That much food tossed down my gullet was massaged by the Amber Ale’s smooth flavor. If you ever want a great beer with some great pizza, pick an Amber up and wash it all down for some creamy goodness.

Now on to the games. I got to watch just wee little bit of Georgia Tech vs North Carolina and Notre Dame vs Pittsburgh from the gym in the morning. There’s nothing special going on there. Notre Dame barely eked by Pittsburgh and the Fighting Irish continue to cough up the ball more than any other team in the FBS division. Georgia Tech beat North Carolina, but they did not have a record setting performance like they did against Kansas. I guess it’s not so much a referendum on the Jayhawks.

The bigger games of the day saw LSU heading to West Virginia, Alabama taking on Arkansas, and Clemson battling with Florida State. I watched the LSU game at home and in between my naps, I realized that LSU may just be the real deal. It was a close 1st half but they pulled away easily in the 2nd. Nice night cap there. Alabama continued to take care of business against Arkansas. When LSU and Alabama fight, it will have national repercussions. Finally, Clemson continues to wear the up and comer jacket by knocking off reeling Florida State. Their head coach’s name is Dabo Sweeny. That’s a cool name.

Big 12 wise I only really got to watch the exciting Texas A&M vs Oklahoma State game and my Kansas State Wildcats heading to Miami. Both were on at the same time so I got to watch just a bit of the A&M and Okie State game. From what I saw, Texas A&M had a major meltdown in the 2nd half and Oklahoma State pulled it out at College Station. I guess their exit from the Big 12 may be a bumpy one. Kansas State, on the other hand, surprised everyone including myself by showing up against Miami. Not only did they show, but beat them! Collin Klein and company pulled ahead big in the first half and then held off Miami, culminating in a 4 down goal line stand late. Good job Wildcats!

And good job Draft Pick. The square box design of the place didn’t leave much to be impressed architecturally, but because they slapped televisions all over, it can be forgiven. The lack of any kind of games is worrisome but again, they went all out on the watching experience. The food was tasty and they have a decent knowledge of craft beers. I had issues logging on wirelessly but service staff gave me all the information I needed. If you need to hunker down and just watch football, chose the Draft Pick.

Whew! Another close one for the Big 12. I swear, the Big 12 is the greatest thing since MTV’s The Real World. If you want to talk about the best conferences, then the one with the best drama factor definitely is the Big 12. Yeah, they are staying together but we really don’t know for how long. So while they hold hands again and tell everybody that things are cool, let’s focus on some actual football. This week’s Pick It an Stick It kind of reflects the noise off the field. Like the Big 12, most of the great games are stuck together around 2:30 Saturday. That’s fine for me and my barspotting trip, but how will it fare for the picks? Continue reading Pick It And Stick It 2011 Week 04: Sticking Together→

It’s the hustle and bustle of college football. At the beginning of the year, everyone is tied 0-0. Slowly and weekly, the winners bubble up and the losers peter out. We’re getting into week 3 and it’s still crowded. We haven’t yet hit the real bubbling point. Apparently it’s Road Test Weekend so we’ll more than likely get the cauldron cooking real quick. Speaking of being crowded, I’m planning and surfing the flesh at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Granted I have Sunday tickets so it won’t be too bad, but Saturday’s at Third Base Sports Bar. Let’s hope people don’t bubble up vomit and I don’t peter out.